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Author's Addenda

University of Michigan Author's Addenda

In many cases, authors are asked to sign publishing agreements that limit or undermine their ability to use their works in the future. Authors can use the addenda below to retain rights to use works they have authored. These addenda are designed to be consistent with University of Michigan copyright policy and with the expectations of many authors in our academic community.

The addenda are different; if you are not sure which is most appropriate for your project, take a moment to read through both.

When using the addenda, here are some things to think about:

These addenda must be signed by the publisher in order to be effective. It’s best to keep a signed copy of your publishing agreement and a signed copy of the addendum for your records.

If there are things that you want to be able to do with your work that are not already permitted by US law or the addendum, or that are prohibited in the publishing agreement, then you should consider adding them to the addendum you are working with. However, it’s also important to be careful when making changes to the addenda, to avoid unintended consequences. Some provisions of the addenda are relatively easy to modify, such as the 12-month embargo in the addendum for books (“After a period of twelve (12) months from the date of publication…”). If you negotiate an embargo of a different length, simply replace “twelve (12)” with the new number.

In general, some publishers will not be willing to negotiate and some will be much more flexible. Consider talking to colleagues who have previously worked with your publisher to get a better sense of what it may be willing to do. If your publisher is not willing to negotiate, you may want to consider working with a different publisher who would be more receptive to your concerns.

If you have questions about the addenda or about negotiating your publishing agreement, you can contact the Library Copyright Office at copyright@umich.edu. You may also want to check for upcoming copyright workshops about negotiating publishing contracts.

NIH Public Access Policy Compliance

The research embodied in this article was conducted with grant support from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). In order to comply with NIH regulations, issued pursuant to U.S. federal law, the Author hereby reserves the right to deposit this paper in PubMed Central, a public open access digital repository, subject to an embargo period not to exceed twelve months from the date of publication.